Former President Jimmy Carter is expected to visit North Korea to try and win the release of a U.S. citizen being held there, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday.

According to reports, Carter will travel to the country to negotiate the release of Kenneth Bae, an American arrested while leading a tour group in the country and sentenced in May to 15 years hard labor. North Korea charges Bae was working to overthrow the government but Bae said he was preaching Christianity as a missionary.

On Monday the White House confirmed Carter is traveling to North Korea, but said he is going on a “private trip.” Principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest declined to say more about Carter’s trip, referring further questions to the State Department.

This isn’t the first diplomatic mission to North Korea for Carter. In 2010 he helped earn the release of another Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a Boston native who had been charged with illegally entering the country.

In 2009, Former President Bill Clinton flew to North Korea and won the release of two American media workers who had also been charged with illegally entering the country.